Harriete Estel Berman

Artist Statement

My jewelry is constructed from recycled tin containers as symbols of our consumer society. The materials are not as precious as gold or silver but in many ways reflect more accurately the values of our society. In our culture a sense of identity and perception of value is created through brand name products that promise to enhance the consumer’s life by association with the product. For instance, buying a premium brand of coffee, shampoo, or chocolate identifies the buyer as part of an elite group.

“Bar Codes” or UPC symbols pervade our consumer society and cryptically identify everything in today’s marketplace. Printed on tin cans, the mysterious encrypted sequence of lines and spaces identifies every food product, describing the item and its value. The UPC tracks the purchasing patterns of each consumer through their purchases.

Bar codes and brand names symbolize our material identity as defined by our purchasing power. Post-consumer tin containers recycle our unconscious consumption of advertising, marketing, and possession as identification. In a society so transitory and hyper-marketed, what do we value most and why? One may wonder who we really are, for how much of our identity is derived from what we consume?